girls rock !!

Carrying on from our Miley Cyrus post, about impressive youngsters bringing talent and freshness to music, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark is just one of the teens doing the same on the tennis court.

Now 18-years-old, and a former junior Wimbledon champion, Wozniacki is the daughter of Polish parents. Her mother played on the Polish national volleyball team, while her father played football professionally in Germany.

The family moved to Denmark when he was sold to a Danish club. Caroline’s older brother Patrick is a professional football player in Denmark.

As well as excelling on the tennis court, Caroline Wozniacki (photo 1 and 2) has plenty of hobbies and talents. ”I like handball, soccer, swimming, playing the piano and all kinds of different things.” Like many Europeans, Caroline is multi-lingual and speaks fluent Danish, Polish and English, plus a good understanding of Russian.

With an athletic and controlled style, Caroline is also an attractive competitor, with a smile that lights up the court.

It has been a topsy-turvy week at Indian Wells with many of the top tennis players struggling to find form. One of our favourites, Dinara Safina, has progressed courtesy of her thundering ground strokes and steely determination. The tennis has not always been fluid but one sign of a good champion is to grind out a win on a bad day.

Alongside Safina in advancing to the final rounds is Ana Ivanovic (photo 1) who has suffered with nerves and minor injuries over the past 12 months. When playing well, Ana is able to play the full court game to great effect. Both Safina and Ivanovic will have tough matches in the quarter-finals.

If she reaches the final, Dinara Safina (photo 2) will replace Serena Williams at the top of the world rankings. Safina does not have to win to achieve No.1 as the scoring system will allow her to accumulate enough points for the top spot.

Top seed Safina of Russia will play eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus next, while Ivanovic will meet ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, one of the hot young  players of the moment.

Safina said she would need to play well to get the better of Azarenka: “We played three times last year and I won three times (but) she’s playing her best tennis.”

Fashion often echoes back to previous ages, and more people are much fitter and active today. As well, we like our action women on screen - Lara Croft, Buffy, Alias …

The recent return to popularity of the roller derby, which used to draw thousands in the ’60s and ’70s, sees punks, rockabillies, tattooists and funksters back in the rink. As you might expect, short skirts, fishnets and/or knee-high socks are the new uniform for those taking part as Roller Derby Dolls, while wrestling-style characters are often the inspiration for names and antics.

There is plenty of humour, even though the rough and tumble can become quite, well, rough. Paris Killton (photo 1) is often rubbing shoulders - and shoulder pads - with Long Island Lolita or some ‘heavy’ from The Varsity Brawlers.

Descriptions of “super sexy speedsters and pure psychotic mayhem on wheels” help the L.A. Derby Dolls pull in the crowds at venues with names like the Doll Factory. The marketing emphasises the events are about “female empowerment and camaraderie” and take the stance of many minority cults. Just like girls at comic conventions and science fiction festivals, there is plenty of opportunity to wear your style writ large.

There is also wholesale plundering of urban myth, celebrity style and, of course, pop and rock idols - as you can see on the example of a fan wall.

Whether you practice your moves in front of a mirror, or on your Wii, the place to strut your action style is on blades, in the rink, and with your home girls.

Following a return to form that has left other top 10 players cast aside, Serena Williams powered on to win the Australian Open singles title for 2009. This success came just a few hours after winning the doubles title with her sister Venus.

Other records are also being broken by the Williams sisters, not least career earnings. Serena is now the leading woman for career earnings, in any sport. As you can see from the chart, Venus is not far behind.

The magnificent results in Melbourne also mean Serena returns to the No. 1 position in the official WTA tour rankings. The style of play by both the Williams sisters reminds us more of Pete Sampras than any other woman player.

There have been many great women in tennis, with fantastic skill and talent, but Serena has such single-minded power and focus that few can oppose her when she is 100% on her game.

Hail Serena !!

In usual fashion, the British media has over-hyped the talents of its sports stars. So no surprise that adult players in the Australian Open were beaten far earlier in the tournament than all the commentators and journalists were saying. Fortunately, there is hope on the horizon - and it’s the girls.

First is last year’s Wimbledon junior champion, Laura Robson. Now, some of us would say she is more of an Australian player than British, as her early years and tennis training started in Melbourne. Nonetheless, the 15-year-old has powered through to the third round in the Girls Singles. Her tennis and attitude are great, and we wish her well. The only trouble on the horizon is the British press, who have started hyping “their” new star.

Also doing well and keeping pace in the rounds with Laura is Heather Watson, another so-called Brit except she is from Guernsey in the Channel Islands but never mind.

Following two 6-2, 6-1 matches in the early rounds, Heather is through to the fourth round after a tough 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 match against Miyabi Inoue.

Go girls - the British public need you !!

Our photo shows Heather (right) with Tara Moore.

Two gutsy modern amazons are through to the fifth round of the Australian Open tennis slugfest. With determination and powerful play, plus a few scares, 22 year old Dinara Safina of Russia won a 3-set battle against promising 19 year old Alize Cornet of France.

No. 3 seed Dinara Safina struggled in her second set against Cornet, just 19 for two days, and also looked in trouble in the third when down 2-5. Yet, as we know from Wimbledon last year, Safina can fight back from extreme situations. Safina is not a careful player, and goes for strong shots no matter what the score. In the end she won 6-2 2-6 7-5 courtesy of that nail-biting 59-minute final set.

Photo (left) shows the athleticism of Safina.

The other promising star from France, Marion Bartoli, has been nipping around a top 10 place for a couple of years and, win or lose, she always impresses with her determination. At 5 ft 7, Marion is a ’shorty’ in the modern game and yet she powered through No. 1 seed Jelena Jankovic with a straight sets win 6-1 6-4. That was the end of Serbian hopes this year. Bartoli has been a semi-finalist at the US Open and a popular runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon final. Her next match, against No. 7 seed Zvonareva could also be a thrilling encounter.

Photo (right) shows the determination of Bartoli.

Do you know anything about synchronised swimming, except the occasional snippet from the Olympics every 4 years? Just as tennis has realised that attractive sports stars are also great for marketing, so the Brazilian national team has been very happy that Bia and Branca Feres see their photoshoots as helping them be ambassadors for their sport.

In the past, an image search on the web for your favourite sports stars may have found a low quality copy. Today, the images can be high quality and, with YouTube and obsessive fans, there will also be medium-quality and even high-quality video clips. Sports Illustrated has helped a lot!!

Companies have also realised the value of their promotional material being readily available on the web. To gain that visibility they pay big money, like the $5m a year paid to Gisele for 7 years by Victoria’s Secret. Magazines and newspapers rush to publish the photos and, bang, next day they will be all over the web.

Equally, even high quality magazines like Vogue or Vanity Fair have realised the selling power of a sports star or movie star on the cover - especially if they happen to look like a glamour model as well. Or, as the photo of Lindsay Lohan in a Marilyn Monroe pose shows, looking like a sex siren of yesteryear.

Love it or loathe it, men and an increasing number of women will usually take the time for a second glance at an attractive sports star, or movie star, or girl walking down the street. As James Dean said, “dream as if you’ll live forever.”

The Top 10 seeds have all played their opening matches and the future looks bright for plenty of glamour on court - and off. The only upset was when growing star Kateryna Bondarenko put out No. 9 Radwanska. As it happens, we don’t mind, as Kateryna (age 22) and sister Alona (age 24) are both modern Amazons, both display magnificent shoulders, and both have tattoos!! Oh, and are the reigning doubles champions.

In fact, it is theoretically possible for the Bondarenko sisters to play the Williams sisters at some point. But the Ukrainian pair are closer than most, as their tattoos are in honour of each other.

Tattooed underneath the blue wings between Kateryna’s shoulder blades is the letter A. She explained, “It is to show respect for my sister.” Alona has entwined hearts on her back and the letter K.

“It was a joint birthday present,” said Kateryna in a recent interview. “Mine is on August 8th and Alona’s in on August 13th. Did it hurt? A little but I’m glad we did it.”

Footnote: the sisters did not get through the early rounds in the doubles, but played well in the singles.

Sport and Marketing - almost inseparable these days. For the modern female tennis players, so often tall and extremely fit, they can be as at home on a catwalk or a red carpet - as well as the tennis court, of course. Maybe we are a culture obsessed with celebrity, but the next two weeks has the chance to fulfil many interests.

First, the tennis. The magnificent modern Amazons from Russia and eastern Europe have transformed the style of tennis, with astonishing athleticism combined with power strokes which equal many men on the tour. Not to mention their fashion style (Elena Dementieva, right).

Second, the legs. Steffi Graf has the most beautiful legs, so sculpted and toned, and no-one has equaled the sight of Steffi hunkering down at the French Open in her heyday. And let’s not forget, that was not many years ago, so it’s great to see the modern stars are just as appealing.

Third, the shoulders. The fantastic tone of female tennis players today is often seen in some of the most wonderful shoulders, with Maria Sharapova (left) and Jelena Jankovic near the top of the list. Maria is missing the Aussie Open due to - gasp - shoulder surgery.

And fourth, the fashion. You will see many photos over the next two weeks from catwalks and celebrity events, featuring these modern sports stars. Fantastic!!

Oh, and there will be some great photos of the stars on the court as well.

In a year of enormous turmoil in the physical world it is wonderful to see the virtual world of the web has steadfastly held to its primary concerns. The Top Web Searches for 2008 are revealing - and so probably are some of the results.

Even though there is a new celebrity in the Top Women searches on Lycos - Sarah Palin - it is perhaps no surprise to see the other 4:

1. Paris Hilton
2. Sarah Palin
3. Britney Spears
4. Pamela Anderson
5. Holly Madison

Celebrity newsflashes also dominated the Top News Stories, with Heath Ledger, Clay Aiken, Paul Newman and Jennifer Hudson of more interest than earthquakes and wars.

Meanwhile, the public chose Top Sports Stars who combined attractiveness along with accomplishment - again, no great surprise:

1. Anna Kournikova
2. Danica Patrick
3. Maria Sharapova
4. Michael Phelps
5. Serena Williams

We applaud the public who keep Anna’s flame alight - she is still such a darling of webfolk.